Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie preview - PAGE 1

The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time film adaptation will arrive in theaters May 28, 2010 with Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley and Gemma Arteton all starring; we had the pleasure of hitting Bruckheimer Studios this week for a preview of the trailer.

The point of the showcase was to highlight the approach and handling of the translation from game to feature film; using experiences of Pirates of the Caribbean they are able to give a swashbuckling feel to Prince of Persia with fluid battles and unpredictable adventure at every corner.

The preview was short but powerful. We caught two runs of the trailer; what stood out was the movies that inspired the game easily transitioned back onto the big screen. Feeling a mash-up of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Pirates movies, the execution plays right into the expectations of a blockbuster summer movie, pushing effects and over-the-top action sequences in exotic locations in every sequence shown. From what we saw the "rewind" feature functioned well in the movie.

As for why the prince has donned the Warrior Within outfit, it was explained this was a decision made by the art team (it's out of their hands); it's not reflective of the story in that game. In this case, the story will stick close to the original work, but not be a literal adaptation.

Our preview was brief and our impressions are still building, but it should fill the summer blockbuster slot well with creator of the series Jordan Mechner at the helm, who has helped guide the concept since 2004. Notably, he's overseen all of the script rewrites and has the final say with all adaptations; the latest rewrite tried (ultimately failed) to include elements from the 2008 game. However, they'd love to do the trilogy.

When producer Jerry Bruckheimer was asked if he'd played the game, or if he'd "Michael Bay'd it", he responded he had before taking up the offer for the film. Questioned further if he'd beaten it, he replied, "No of course not, it's too hard."

Our last bit of news is a juicy one: Ubisoft will be announcing a new Prince of Persia game in the spring, according to the team, but it's not their place to give out any details.

Back to the movie: we can only hope it keeps progressing strongly; maybe the video game to movie curse will end here. As more updates roll out for the new game and the film, we’ll be sure to feature them.